


Interstitials

by InkDrawnDreamer



Category: Camp Camp (Web Series)
Genre: Accidental Drug Use, Alcohol, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Danvid, Ficlet Collection, Fluff, Gen, M/M, Snow, Stargazing, Swearing, Tags will be added as they become relevant, Tumblr Prompts, dadniel, dadvid, reformed Daniel AU, these are mostly danvid oneshots but not exclusively
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-26
Updated: 2019-02-26
Packaged: 2019-11-06 03:33:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,443
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17932055
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InkDrawnDreamer/pseuds/InkDrawnDreamer
Summary: This is the dumping ground for all the Camp Camp fic requests I've gotten from tumblr. Most of these are Danvid fics, but there may be other ships included and/or stories that have no ships involved. Various AUs may come up, but for the most part these will be more general. More will be added as prompts are filled, and everything posted here can also be found on tumblr.





	1. Stargazing

**Author's Note:**

> Anonymous asked: "Omg ok uh danvid oneshot where Daniel takes David stargazing because he is stressing over campers!!!"

Over the course of many months, Daniel had began to learn David's patterns, both good and bad. Although the counselor always seemed to insist on making "inhumanly chipper" his default, he still had certain tells that left cracks in the mask, so to speak. He might space out more often, or his smile might look a bit more strained, but for the most part he kept his exhaustion under wraps. It wasn't long into Daniel getting to really know David that he learned about the counselor’s tendency of hiding the extent of his stress until he crashed. While Daniel himself was far from being a paragon of healthy coping mechanisms―and he knew it―even he quickly realized that this habit was not a healthy or sustainable one. He also quickly realized just how stubborn David could be when it came to refusing to look after his own mental health. Although many an intervention had been waged on the argument that letting himself get burned out would hurt both him  _ and _ his ability to help anyone else, that battle was usually only won because either Daniel or Gwen eventually forced David to take of himself. Being who he was, though, of course David would bring up the campers when trying to justify his habit of overexerting himself. After all, he was their caretaker for the summer and they needed him, but even so, as his co-counselors would try again and again to drill into him, that didn't mean that he couldn't or shouldn't take care of himself too. Sometimes, it would resonate with him enough to stick, and he would eventually give himself a short break.

Most times, however, were like this.

"Just― _ goodness _ ―five minutes, kids!" David called breathlessly as he slammed his weight into the cabin door to shut it. He fell against the doorframe with a gasp as he sank to his knees.

"What are you doing?" Daniel said in what would probably sound like an angry tone to most people.

"Color war," David replied as he struggled to regain his breath. His face was flushed, and both his skin, his clothes, and even his hair were riddled with small splatters and crumbs of color. He looked almost as though he was covered in confetti.

"Right," Daniel mumbled as he eyed the man suspiciously. "And as for the splatters all over your clothes?"

"The, um, weapons of choice were water balloons. And washable paint.”

"For crying out loud, David!" Daniel crossed his arms and shot the counselor the most disappointed look he could muster. "You look wiped out. Call this off so you can take a break at least."

"But they're having so much fun! I haven't seen them all enjoy an activity this much in a while," David said as he attempted to brush a gob of yellow paint off his shoulder. "What's a couple of paint stains compared to-"

"David, stop," Daniel sounded tired already. "No, you're not doing this today. You need a rest."

"I do not," David actually sounded indignant. "I just need to get my second wind."

"That is bullshit and you know it David."

"Gwen! Language," David half said and half squeaked in the direction of his unamused co-counselor.

"David, you already  _ got _ your second wind. You are on your third or fourth wind right now!" she said pointedly. "You can't keep working until you burn yourself out and then just repeat the process over again. For crying out loud, your wrist just finished healing up!"

"Hey! That was only a sprain," he argued feebly.

"Yeah, it was only a sprain compared to the giant gash you got in your leg when you were cutting firewood. Or the fever you got a few weeks ago. Or all of the various injuries apparently caused by getting _ hit by a fucking bus _ !" she shouted, then let her volume drop again as she sighed. "You can't keep getting banged up and working on your feet constantly, and then expect to be able to bounce back like nothing happened. David, please, just take the rest of today off, let Daniel and I handle the kids, and go on the mend for a bit."

His expression softened a bit. “I appreciate the concern, a lot, Gwen.” He bit his lip nervously. “But I can't do that, not today anyway. There’s just too much to do."

She furrowed her brow, then relaxed as her face grew eerily calm. "Fine then. David, you're taking the rest of the day off. Daniel, you get his legs and I'll handle the rest of him."

"Wait, what?!" The counselor's voice cracked as he struggled against the arms that were beginning to lift him. With little energy left to fight with, he writhed helplessly in his friends' grip as they hauled him up off the floor, then swung him over and onto his bed, where he landed with a soft thump.

Before he could add another word of protest, Gwen tossed a thick blanket toward Daniel, who then proceeded to pin David down with it and wrap the corners tightly around his shoulders. Gwen placed another blanket on top of that one and stepped back. David's babbling protests quickly died down into tired murmurs as the warmth sapped his remaining will to fight. When he was already tired, stopping him just long enough for him to relax a bit usually did the trick in getting him to let himself go the rest of the way. A resigned murmur of approval from beneath the covers signaled that they had succeeded.

After taking a moment to celebrate, Daniel and Gwen were on to phase two of their operation. For now, they would let David rest and get the kids started on cleaning up the mess they had made. After that they needed to rework their schedule for who would be doing what with camp activities. But they did it anyway; after all, it was very much temporary and David needed to take a break once in a while. That was just what they did. Running a camp with so few people or resources got maddenning very quickly, so tagging each other in and out was how they stayed afloat. If either of them were starting to get burnt out, David would have insisted that they take a break too. By the time dusk fell, they had cleaned, planned, and exhausted themselves taking on both their own and David's shares of the work. As Gwen and the Quartermaster were getting dinner started, Daniel decided to check in on David. To his surprise, the man was already awake, albeit barely.

"What―Daniel? What time is it?" He caught sight of the fading daylight through the window and he jerked forward suddenly. "Oh my goodness, did I sleep through the whole day? I need to get back to work! The campers-"

"The campers are fine," Daniel's calm voice interrupted him. He had a tied plastic bag dangling from one hand. "Gwen and I rounded out the rest of today's schedule. They're getting ready for dinner now."

David stopped. "Oh." He almost seemed to wilt. "I-I'm sorry."

"You have no reason to be apologizing, David. We literally forced you to stop working.  _ It’s okay _ . Don’t worry about it," Daniel's voice softened as he spoke. "Now grab your jacket, we're heading out."

He grabbed a thick, brown jacket off the hanging hook and threw it toward David, where it landed in his lap.

"Uh, okay?" David replied as he stood up and put it on. "May I ask where we're going?"

"You'll see in a few minutes, we're not going far. We should be back before dinnertime." Daniel zipped up his blue windbreaker and offered the counselor his hand. "Shall we?"

After a moment’s hesitation, David took his hand and allowed Daniel to lead him out of the counselor's cabin, and onto the footpath that led out of camp. This wasn't unusual for them to do. Daniel liked to walk around the grounds or go to the lake at night, and David was often up either very early in the morning or very late at night working in the woods, getting supplies, chopping firewood, and the like. Still, after everything else that had happened to him over the course of that day, David was feeling more anxious than anything at that moment. He followed closely behind Daniel, who continued leading him by the hand through the looping pathways that led through the woods, only to let go of him when they reached a small clearing. They were close by the lake, which they could see somewhere down below where they had appeared from, and were now situated on a small hill.

Confused, David looked to Daniel for an answer, which he received not with a reply but with a smirk. That was followed by Daniel pointing upward and following suit as David craned his neck to look above them. A gasp caught in the counselor's throat. He had seen the night sky from the woods plenty of times before, and the view was always phenomenal, but he'd never had such a clear vantage point to look from before. From the top of the hill, far away from the shadowy canopies that blocked much of the forest view, he could see the pale, feathered, stream of sky that made up the Milky Way, and what was normally only a dusting of dotted stars in the blackness was instead filled with shining static. It was beautiful, breathtaking in just how much bigger the expanse seemed when the sky was actually dark enough to view in detail. David looked spellbound, his eyes wide and his chin tipped up to the sky as he watched all the glittering movement above him. "Wow," was the only sound out of his mouth. “ _ Wow. _ ”

Without thinking much about it, Daniel laced their hands together and sat down in the grass, bringing David into a kneel along with him. With one hand, he untied the plastic bag he had brought, and took out a large thermos. Handing it off to David, he then procured a bag of marshmallows, a chocolate bar, and a box of graham crackers.

"I don't think we'll be able to make a fire out here," David remarked. The grass was dewey and slightly cold beneath him. 

"Don't need to," Daniel said as he took back the thermos and unscrewed the lid. "The marshmallows are for the cocoa."

It wouldn't get them crispy, but he figured that the liquid would at least be hot enough to melt the marshmallows a bit. After unwrapping the candy bar, Daniel broke it in two and placed a half in each of the two mugs left in the bag. After handing one to David, he poured some cocoa into each one, followed by a handful of marshmallows. He took a sheet of graham crackers from the pack, then he split the whole thing lengthwise into two tall halves, stirring one of them around his mug and handing the other one over to David.

"Thank you," the counselor said with a murmur, which soon turned into a contented slurp as he took a sip of his drink.

"You're very welcome," Daniel said as he slung an arm around David's shoulder. When David moved closer to him, he took the chance to press a kiss to the counselor's freckle-smattered cheek and leaned his weight against him, allowing David to nestle himself comfortably between Daniel’s side and the arm that was curled around his back. 

David exhaled a warm breath against the surface of his cocoa, taking in the sweet smell that rose from the liquid and the warmth that seeped from the mug into his fingertips. He reciprocated a kiss on Daniel’s jaw, letting his lips brush over his cheek on the way to meet his mouth before finally he finally pressed them together. He could taste chocolate on Daniel’s breath, the sweetness lingering on the tip of his tongue and leaving a sugary aftertaste on his lips, not quite gone, even after the kiss was broken. They stayed there for a moment, their foreheads touching, their eyes still shut, breathing in the same wispy aroma and trying to memorize the many sensations around them while they were still fresh and vivid in their minds. David pressed a last, quick kiss against Daniel’s lips, their mingling breath still warm and tingling on his face as he exhaled, and his head fall snugly against the crook of Daniel's neck.

"How are you feeling?" Daniel asked as they looked off into dark horizon. He licked  a spot of chocolate from the corner of his mouth. He could feel the tips of David’s fingers on the back of his neck, stroking his hair where it tapered into a layer of thin fuzz.

David smiled from where he rested beside him, comfortable and unhurried as he watched the night sky roll slowly past. "Better."


	2. Snow Day

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anonymous asked: "In response to your Danvid fluff fic offer, since where I live has been hit by a random spout of snow, maybe a warm winter night in with cuddles, hot chocolate and a too-early Christmas movie? And Daniel goes off on a mini rant about how Christmas needs to stop being around as early as three weeks preHalloween." I'm pretty sure this was the first prompt I got as well as the one that took the longest to write.

Normally, Daniel was not bothered by winter. He always liked snow as a child, back when he could spend hours playing in it, building up and tearing down structures that eventually disappeared into puffs of powder. As an adult, he enjoyed the way it looked after it first fell, spread out over the landscape like a blanket that covered everything in solid white, making it all seem brighter, and even the the air seem cleaner somehow. Even after his liking for it was no longer linked to a desire for purity, he could still appreciate that it looked pretty. He was fairly comfortable in the cold too.

"Fuck!"

Usually anyway.

"Argh," he slurred as he kicked the heels of his boots against the doorframe, shucking off pieces of snow onto the rug below.

He looked around as he stepped inside the front room of the house. No sign of David. With a grunt, he pushed the door shut behind him with his foot before beginning the arduous task of wrenching his boots off without falling over. Eventually he succeeded, plunking them down in the tray as he walked further into the house.

"Uh, David?" He called.

"Kitchen!" came the faraway reply.

He headed toward the kitchen and stopped to lean against the doorway when he saw David's back blocking the cupboard.

"Hey, welcome back," David said from the floor. "How is it out there?"

"I hate it," he deadpanned. "But the sidewalks are cleared and salted at least."

"That is great news." David stood up and swiveled around to face his partner, beaming. He was clutching a half-folded plastic bag under one arm and a smaller, unopened bag in the other. "And to show my appreciation, there is a mug of cocoa with your name on it over there. Plus I just found those gingerbread cookies we got last week!"

"That is easily the best news I have gotten all day," Daniel said as he clapped David on the shoulder and pressed a kiss to his cheek.

"You're welcome." David sauntered over to the stove to retrieve the mugs of cocoa. "Do you want any marshmallows?"

"Just a few," Daniel replied as he slipped out of his coat and smoothed out the sweater he had on underneath. It was actually David's, but it was also the warmest thing he could find in the house at the time. Plus, he just liked to borrow it from time to time. The thick, burnt orange knit was very warm and carried David's vaguely woodsy scent along with it.

He finished hanging up his coat just as David closed up the bag of marshmallows. He passed a white mug to Daniel, who had to fight back a smirk upon getting a good look at it.

_ "'Good S'morening?’ _ Really?"

"Yes." David looked slightly incredulous. "It happens to be my favorite—and it was a present from Gwen!"

"I thought Max gave you this one."

"No, Max gave me the blue one."

"Ah, yes. Speaking of him, the driveway will be waiting for him to do when he gets home," Daniel said as he took a tentative sip of his drink. "He promised that he'd do it next time, and I am holding him to that."

David shoved the bag back inside the cupboard. "Are you doing it to teach him about responsibility, or are you doing it so that you don't have to shovel anymore?"

"I can do both." He punctuated his reply with a grumble and a small slurp of cocoa.

David stood up and clasped his shoulder. I know you can." He kissed him on the cheek.

Now that they had their drinks, plus an ample supply of cookies, they headed toward the living room. David sat down on the sofa and turned on the TV. Daniel set his mug down and disappeared down the hall as he was flipping channels, and returned a minute later with a thick, blue-streaked blanket. David looked up at him with a smile as he pulled the blanket first around him and then around himself. Daniel relaxed into the fabric and took a long gulp of his cocoa, allowing the heat from his drink to meet with that of the blanket and create a pleasant warmth that seemed to slide beneath his skin and into his bones. David seemed equally relaxed, content to divide his attention between whatever was playing on TV, and popping half-melted marshmallows in his mouth.

"Oh, so close," Daniel said as a marshmallow missed David's mouth and hit his cheek instead. David shot him a pout, which only made the man snicker more.

"Like you could do better," David snapped half-heartedly, although he was unable to completely suppress a smile as he said it. He plucked a marshmallow from the cluster that floated on the surface of his cocoa and flicked it toward Daniel, landing it directly on the tip of his nose.

"Bullseye," he said, laughing as his partner smacked his shoulder.

"I wasn't ready!" Daniel whined. "Do over. Now."

"Okay, okay." David picked up another marshmallow as Daniel opened his mouth. He held it up to his eye as he lined up his shot, then flicked it toward Daniel once again, only for the marshmallow to bounce off his chin and onto the front of his borrowed sweater.

"That one's on you," Daniel said as he picked it off of himself and popped it into his mouth. He then took one of the remaining marshmallows from his own mug and threw it up above his head, opening his mouth wide to catch it just as it landed on his other cheek. Daniel only grumbled and attempted to catch it again, then again, and again after that. He was down to his second to last marshmallow by the time he finally felt the treat land on his tongue, which he punctuated with a triumphant yelp as he gulped it down. He felt David's palm come to rest on the small of his back, giving him a single celebratory pat before pulling him closer.

They were comfortable like this, with a wealth of warmth both wrapped around them as well as between them. Daniel was almost laying on David, his cheek against the other's shoulder, with one arm looped around his back to secure himself. He could have easily fallen asleep there, and even found himself beginning to doze off a couple of times during the commercial break. He tried to focus on the TV to keep himself alert but— what could he say—he was tired and comfy, and becoming less and less willing to get up as more time passed.

"Oh, what is this now." His grumbling took David by surprise as he felt Daniel's head lift off of his shoulder.

"What's wrong?"

_ "This." _ Daniel thrust an accusatory hand at the screen, which was currently rattling off a list of Christmas movies that would be coming on later. "It's not even Thanksgiving yet for goodness sake, so why are they already showing Christmas movies?"

"I guess some people are really eager for the season to start." David only shrugged.

"That's not the only thing. The week before Halloween when I was trying to find some more of those paper decorations? Turns out they'd already been replaced with Christmas ones. It was still October—why are you laughing?"

David tried to muffle his chuckling to no avail. "Sorry, sorry," he said. "I just didn't realize you were so passionate about this."

Daniel sat back slowly. His face was a shade or two redder all of a sudden. "It's just too early is all."

"I know. I'm not making fun of you, love, honest." David carded a gentle hand through Daniel's hair as he leaned over to kiss his temple.

"I know," Daniel sighed. "But my point still stands."

"Well now that it's at least  _ almost _ Thanksgiving, would you be willing to watch a movie with me?" David asked hopefully. "We could probably get through one before we need to head out again."

Daniel wrinkled his nose as he thought for a moment. "Sure, why not? What did you have in mind?"

"The guide says that Die Hard is playing next."

"That's an all-year-round kind of movie though."

"Still takes place during Christmas," David said pointedly.

“Didn’t think you liked action movies that much.”

“Max and Gwen made me watch it a few times. It’s pretty good.”

Daniel took another long slurp of his cocoa before he let his head fall against the other man's shoulder once again. "Whatever you say."


	3. Lightweight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anonymous asked: "Omfg omfg imagine like- David accidentally getting hammered off of some “non-alcoholic drink” and Daniel having to take care of him and shit but Davids like ;;)))) smooch me and Daniels like “pls David ily but we’re not even dating” and he EVENTUALLY gets him just to go to sleep." This one was fun to do (and it turned out a lot longer than I anticipated). David is a cuddly drunk, so heads up for some (very mild) nonconsensual touching and really bad flirting.

In fairness, the whole mess was partially David's own fault. He was the one who wanted to make the party feel "fancier" and opted for the more expensive sparkling juice instead of the generic stuff that they could get at the drugstore. Some of what Gwen bought  _ had _ actually been non-alcoholic, but there were a couple of bottles of regular booze in the mix as well. She claimed that they were to stash for later, and that she had no plans to bring them out during the party, but Daniel wasn't sure how much he actually believed that. Regardless of whether she meant what she said or not, it became a problem anyway.

The trouble began while they were still setting up for the party. David's excuse for putting it together was that they could take care of both dance camp and hospitality camp activities at the same time, but both of his co-counselors thought the real reason was that he’d noticed how unenthusiastic the campers were lately. Nonetheless, they went along with it anyway, and began stocking up on snacks and party decorations. David was been putting out food and drinks while his coworkers decorated. He finished filling each row of plastic cups with sparkling cider one by one until he was left with only a couple of swigs in the bottom of the bottle. He drank what was left without thinking too hard about it, but only a few minutes later his coworkers noticed that he appeared disoriented. They thought maybe he was sick since his face was pink and he was a bit warm to the touch. He brushed it off saying that he was just a little dizzy was all, but it was the mild slur in his voice that made Gwen decide to take a look at the empty bottle. She froze as she skimmed the label and immediately began pouring the contents of the cups back into the bottle as quickly and carefully as possible. When Daniel demanded an explanation, she still tried to play it off as no big deal.

"He just had some of the wrong drink," she insisted as she continued to frantically replace the “juice”..

"And what is wrong about it exactly?" he said.

"You know how he said to get some of that non-alcoholic juice for the kids?"

"Yeah," he stretched the word out slowly.

"Well, it's expensive stuff, and there just so happened to be a mix and match sale with the non-alcoholic drinks and the not so non-alcoholic drinks. So I bought some schnapps too, to take advantage of the sale."

_ "What?" _

"What? We need to save money, and I need to have some form of reprieve from this godforsaken job so that I can continue to function. Besides, it's not even all that strong," she said, only to wince at a loud noise from across the room.

Daniel gestured behind him with his thumb. "The fact that David just tripped and fell into the wall begs to differ."

"He'll be okay. I'm sure that even the kids could handle a couple of sips of this stuff, and he's a grown man." She capped off the bottle and tucked it under her arm. "We have extra cups, I'll toss out the used ones and put out the cider instead. You just put David to bed and let him sleep off the buzz. He'll probably be sobered up again by the time the party gets underway."

Daniel leered at her, more skeptical than angry at this point.

"Trust me, I've seen my fair share of poorly-timed benders in college." She turned away with a dismissive wave of her hand. "Just give him half an hour for a nap and some coffee afterward and he'll be fine."

Daniel sighed. "If you say so. But hide the rest of that stuff, got it?"

"Whatever," she called back without looking at him. He almost missed when these people were still scared of him. Almost. Nevertheless, he walked toward David, who was currently slumped over on the floor with his back against the wall. With a tug of his hand, Daniel got the man to his feet and wrapped David's arm around his own shoulder, keeping a tight grip on his wrist to steady him. With his other hand resting on his side, Daniel slowly escorted him out of the building and toward the counselors' cabin.

Once they were inside, Daniel made quick work of depositing David onto the nearest bed and taking stock of their selection of drinks. There was half a bag of coffee grounds that may or may not have been several years old, plus a couple of mugs stored alongside the decidedly flippant coffee maker. First order of business, however, was to let David sober up a little on his own. As he was setting items out on the table, Daniel heard a loud thump that caused him to turn around to find David crumpled up on the floor beside the bed. His flushed face bore a lopsided grin, and Daniel could have sworn he heard what sounded like a giggle as he knelt down beside him.

"Are you okay?" he asked as he jammed a hand under David's armpit to lift him up.

"I don't know," David slurred. "Are  _ you _ okay?"

"Um, yeah. Come on, give me your other arm for a sec."

"Are you okay―often? Here? No," his face shifted from amused to quizzical as he babbled. "Come here?"

"I think I'm as close to you right now as I physically can be, actually," Daniel added as he hoisted him up and onto the bed again.

"No, come  _ here _ . Ye-y'come here a lot?" the counselor asked before bursting into a short fit of giggles.

"Yep, I live here, same as you do. Now get under the blanket so you can warm up."

"No,  _ you _ come and go―go under it." David stabbed a shaky, accusing finger into his co-counselor's chest. "You're really warm."

Daniel gave a few more useless tugs on the blanket the man was sitting on. It didn't budge and neither did David. "Okay, you know what? I'm not doing this." He made a beeline for the nearby dresser and pulled out a large bundle of fabric from one of the lower drawers. Making his way to the foot of the bed, he lifted the blanket up, letting the pattern of zigzagging shapes on top flutter open for a moment before landing on top of David, then started tucking the extra fabric in around his sides.

David struggled only a little bit before he stopped moving, letting his head thump against the pillow seconds later. He turned his head to the side to stare at Daniel as hewas swaddled.

"Hey," David half-whispered and half-croaked.

Daniel looked up at him without stopping what he was doing. "What?"

David pressed his cheek into the pillowcase.  "I gotta tell you somethin'."

"Okay," Daniel said slowly, his tone laden with skepticism.

"It's a...a secret."

"Okay."

"Come closer so I can tell you."

Daniel leaned down slightly, enough so that David's breath felt hot on his ear. That sensation of warm air, he realized, was now solid, like skin pressed against his. He recoiled and was met with confusion from David, looking dazed, his mouth still puckered and hanging open slightly.

"What the hell?" Daniel squeaked, trying to ignore how warm his face still felt despite the fresh gap between the two of them.

"Wha-?" David was looking at him as though he had something on his face.  "But I didn't tell you yet."

"You sure about that?" Daniel really wished he could keep his voice a little more dignified.

"Yeah, come back," David muttered as he wriggled futilely against his wrappings.

Despite his huffing, Daniel obliged him, but not without keeping a few more inches between them than before. David leaned in as much as he could with the blanket restraining him, stopping just shy of the side of Daniel's face.

"Yo― _ you are _ ―really cute," he said hoarsely.

Daniel stiffened. He tried to keep his expression neutral, which was made somehow more difficult by David's index finger poking him right in his cheekbone.

_ "Boop," _ he said before Daniel could bat his hand away. He giggled.

"Go to sleep," Daniel grumbled as he pulled the blanket up to David's chin again.

_ "You _ go to sleep!" he parroted before giggling again.

Daniel shook his head as walked away from the bed. He opened the front door a crack and turned to look at David one last time before leaving. “I'll come back to check on you a little later. Just try to get some rest."

He didn't give David time to answer before stepping outside and shutting the door behind him. The kids were probably getting the party started now, which meant that Gwen would need help to keep them from breaking anything. The doors were open when he arrived and the room was already half-filled with kids. He did feel a small swell of pride at how their decorating job had turned out, followed by relief that everything still seemed to be on track. Gwen was topping off the snack table when she spotted him.

"How's David?" she weaved through the oncoming traffic to meet him.

"Still delirious, but he's in bed and should be falling asleep any minute now," Daniel affirmed with a nod.

"Great. Thanks for taking care of him." Gwen held up one of two newly filled cups. When he hesitated to take it, she added "Relax, this is the apple cider."

"Positive?"

_ "Yes. _ I triple-checked." She took a confident swig from one of the cups to demonstrate and held the other one out toward him. He grabbed it, and relaxed a bit after taking a sip.

Most of the kids had already diffused throughout the room, creating a comfortable layer of white noise within the mess hall. Quartermaster had taken it upon himself to provide music for the event. He had a surprisingly good assortment of vinyl records, although Daniel could have sworn he heard snippets of Latin and moaning noises on a few of them. Nikki was helping Preston lead several of the other kids in what was either a complicated dance number or the beginning of a very enthusiastic mutiny. Even Max seemed to loosen up after a while. Daniel had to hand it to them, things were actually going pretty well all things considered. He was finally able to relax a bit now that the party was underway, and even with only himself and Gwen available, they were able to keep tabs on the kids without much difficulty. With most of their bases already covered, Daniel decided that now would be a good time to check on David, after one last drink.

_ "Owie!" _ There was shriek, followed by a crash. "Sorry ma'am."

What Daniel hadn't counted on was David deciding to save him the trip back to the cabin. It was hard to tell if his face was any redder through the different colored lights that bathed the room, but considering that he just apologized to a coat rack, he was probably no less plastered than he had been earlier.

"What the hell? How did he get out?" Gwen hissed as as she set her cup down.

"I don't know! I thought I locked the door!"

"Well lock it again!"

With a pointed groan, Daniel made his way toward the door as covertly as he could manage, arriving just in time to catch David as he tripped over his own boot.

"Hey, you caught me," the counselor said with a grin. "Did it hurt?"

"No." Daniel furrowed his brow as he tried to steady them both.

"But you fell."

"I think you got that backwards, buddy." Daniel moved to pull one of David's arms around his shoulder.

"Nuh-uh." David shook his head hard.  _ "I _ fell through the door." He pointed to himself.  _ "You _ fell from heaven." He stuck his finger into Daniel's chest, and after he didn't get a reply, he burst out laughing.

Daniel sighed with a shake of his head. "Let's get you back to your bed."

"Aha, you wanna come with me?" David slurred.

"I kind of have to, seeing as I don't think you can make it there on your own right now."

"Th'bed's nice and warm."

"I'm sure it is. Let's get you back into it before you fall over again."

"Can I have sumthin' first?"

Daniel sighed. "What do you want?"

"Snacks."

"Alright, I'll grab you some food, but then we have to go." Daniel ruffled David's hair with one hand before shouting over the music, "Hey Gwen! Could you give me a hand please?"

She came up and put an arm around David so that Daniel could hand him off properly. David's entrance had already attracted a few stares, but Daniel tried to be subtle anyway as he filled a plate up with chips and cookies. God only knew that the man could use some starch to soak up all the alcohol in his system. Daniel returned a few minutes later to where Gwen had David propped up against her shoulder, rubbing his back every so often while he giddily talked her ear off. He looked excited when he saw Daniel come up, and nearly fell backward while reaching for the plate.

Daniel held it over his shoulder so it was just out of reach. "You can have something to eat after you go back to your room."

"Aw."

"Come on David, let's go," Gwen said as she corralled him toward the door.

"But I wanna snack!" he whined, still feebly reaching toward Daniel's hands.

"I just told you, you can eat later," Daniel replied sternly.

"Nah, not those."

Daniel grimaced.  _ "What?" _

David pointed to the plate. "Not those snacks." He swiveled his wrist to point his finger at Daniel's face. "That snack."

His expression turned from annoyed to confused. "Uh, okay?"

David clutched Gwen's shoulder tightly as he dissolved into a fit of giggles.  _ "Hee hee!  _ You're a snack."

Daniel looked to her for an answer, but she didn't explain anything. She only sighed and hurried David forward, muttering something about how she shouldn’t have let him watch “The Good Place”.

They tried to be quick, knowing full well that chaos would start raining down as soon as the kids realized all three counselors were missing. Unfortunately, David put up a fight. He would whine and try to wrench himself out of their grip in a fashion that loosely reminded Gwen of a cat trying to break itself out of its owner’s hold. Luckily his aim was poor and he didn't have a lot of energy left to spare, so eventually the pair managed to subdue him by smothering his limbs underneath a blanket. The hardest part wasn't getting him into bed so much as it was getting him to let go of them both. Gwen was more experiences at slithering out of David's hugs, but Daniel, being not as practiced, had to stay trapped for a few minutes while Gwen helped him wrench David's arms off of his neck. Getting him tucked in and calmed down took longer than expected, and upon sprinting back to the mess hall, both counselors were relieved to find that the kids had only just begun to notice their prolonged absence.

The party continued until they ran out of food and drinks. Between the two of them, Gwen and Daniel managed to cover most of the activities they'd planned for the event, getting through a few dance lessons and testing the kids on party planning procedures before they finally decided to call it a day. The pair finally got done cleaning sometime before dinner, when they both collapsed alongside their inebriated coworker in the counselors' cabin, too exhausted to eat. They had already called for an early lights out, which got a few complaints from the campers, but neither of them were willing to take no for an answer on this one. Daylight was pouring into the room before any of them woke up again.

"Agh, mm," David murmured as he mashed his cheek against the pillow. He blinked a few times and slowly opened his eyes. "What time is it?"

His head hurt a bit, but he was no groggier than usual. He sat up and stretched, catching an eyeful of the two bodies passed out on either side of him in the process. To his right, Gwen was curled up on her stomach with one leg slung over the edge of her bed. To his left, Daniel was asleep on his back, limbs splayed out, with a pillow covering his face. 

They looked so tuckered out David couldn't help but smile.  _ "Good morning _ co-counselors!"

His was greeted by groaning on either side of him.

"I hope you're both well-rested, because today― _ oof!" _ He flinched, falling back against the bed as a pillow hit him in the face.

Daniel picked the pillow up from the floor, one-handed, before throwing it on top of his face again without a word.


End file.
